Improvement in fire-proof safes



UNITED STATES- PATENT Fria.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-PROOF SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters-Patent No. 63,311, dated March 26, 1867.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RU'FUS S. SANBORN, of the town of Ripon, in the county of Fond du Lac, and State of Wisconsin, have invented an Improvement in Fire-Proof Safes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of an ordinary lire-proof safe having my improvement attached. Figs. 2 and 3 are detached views of the water-chambers in different positions.

A patent dated July 17, 1866, and reissued November 6, 1866, has been granted to me for an improved fire proof safe, -in which water-vessels having steam-valves were combined with a chamber or chambers for the circulation of air, arranged so as to surround the central case intended for the reception of books and papers. That mode of construction did not prove conveniently applicable to the safes iu common use, and I have found it desirable to modify that plan so as to apply the general principle of construction to safes already made by an easy and inexpensive a1- teration.

The present invention, therefore, consists in the introduction into safes of any and all of the ordinary forms (without reference to their Inode of construction) of water-vessels provided with steam-valves. It further consists in the use of a tube for the introduction of the water into each water-vessel, which tube extends from the edge to the mathematical center of the vessel, so that when the vessel is half full of water, in whatever position it may be placed, none of the Water will escape, while at the same time steam generated by the boiling of the contained water will have free egress from the vessel through a valve provided for that purpose.

In the accompanying drawings, A marks the exterior case of a safe, made in any ordinary mode, and B the door of the same. In such a safe the inner case for the reception of books and valuables fills up the center space between the walls. In order to convert a safe of this character into a steam lire-proof I prefer to remove the interior case,-and substitute for it one like that marked D in the drawing, sufficiently small to allow of the introduction between it and the sides, and, if desirable, the top and bottom of the safe, of dat metallic water vessels, E F, provided with steamvalves c closed by springs s. I also attach a similar vessel, G, to the inside of the door of a safe. These vessels are varied iu size and proportions to conform to those of the safeinto which they are introduced, and they may be placed in any portion of the safe that may be preferred without any change in the internal case if such change should be found objectionable. They are made of thin metal, so as to be rapidly affected by the heat applied to the interior of the safe, and their valves, while preventing the ingress of air, allow of the ready escape of steam generated within the vessel. Each vessel is provided with a tube, t, which extends from any point on the perimeter to ,or toward the mathematical center of the vessel. Through this tube the vessel is charged with water until it is halfl full, and if the tube extends to the center no water'will escape in any position in which the vessel may be placed. This is clearly illustrated in Figs.

l and 2, which show a water-vessel in two positions, the surface of the water in each case being indicated by the blue portion of the drawing.

The object of this arrangement is to prevent the injury of the contents of the safe which would result from the esca-pe of water from the vessels in case of any accidental change in the position of the safe, such as its being thrown onto its side or turned entirely over. It is obvious that books or papers cannot be charred or destroyed by heat while enveloped in a bath of steam, and experiment has shown that steam is not injurious to manuscripts on paper. When, therefore, a safe containing water-vessels, constructed and arranged as hereinbefore described, is exposed to a high degree of heat, the water in the vessel nearest to the source of heat is soon brought to the boiling-point, and envelopes the contents of the safe in steam. The other vessels, inthe order of their proximity to the lire, become successively heated, and contribute their supply of steam to the protection ofthe contents of the safe. A very considerable space of time would, under the'ordinary circumstances of a lire, be required to convert the contents of all the vessels into steam, and

to expel the steam, when produced, from the' safe, and thus the chances of preserving the contents from destruction would be greatly form and dimensions of the sa'e in which they are placed.

2. Providing each of such Water-vessels with a tube, t, reachingfrom any portion ofthe edge or perimeter to or toward the mathematical center of the vesse1,as and for the purpose specied.

The above specification of my said invention signed and witnessed at Boston this 13th day of December, A. D. 1866.

RUFUS S. SANBORN Witnesses:

CEAS. F. STANSBURY, WiLLIAM C, CLEVELAND. 

